QUESTION: How are you handling rescheduling patients due to the pandemic/shut down?

ANSWER: Take a breath.  This has been an unusual and stressful time for everyone and we need to create a strategy that will decrease the stress for the team while helping our patients in the best way possible.

[mepr-show if=”loggedout”][/mepr-show] [mepr-active memberships=”629,630,37388,37393,37672,37676,37670,37668,37674,44674″ ifallowed=”show” unauth=”message” unauth_message=”Answer hidden, please login or purchase a membership to view.”]Communication is key here.  Communication with your patients about how you are handling appointments.  If you took people out of the schedule when the shut-down began, you have to power through with those calls.  Reminder to the entire team:  When making calls be intentional.  You are not calling just to get through your list of patients.  You are working to get those patients scheduled so you can help them stay healthy.  Use those calls to find out how they are doing and let them know you are doing everything you can to get people back on a regular recare schedule.

Moving forward if you do need to close again, I would suggest moving people out to a later date rather than taking them out of the schedule completely.  It is much easier to move an appointment around than it is to try to follow up with a patient and get them back in the schedule.

As far as being booked into the foreseeable future, I recommend adding hours to the hygiene schedule or possibly working on a Saturday if you don’t already.  Also, if new patients come in through the hygiene schedule I would consider moving them to the doctor schedule to free up some hygiene times. These changes let your patients know you are truly there for them and want to get them in as soon as possible. [/mepr-active]